Eli Manning will have a lot of unofficial titles in the coming days as his family takes center stage at another Super Bowl. Cheerleader. Ticket broker. Travel agent. And, given what is soon to become a central storyline for Broncos-Panthers, maybe the biggest one of all:

Legacy defender.

He has been around the NFL long enough to know how this is going to go. If his brother Peyton finds a way to lead Denver over Carolina to win his second title, the victory will be held up as proof of his greatness as a quarterback especially given his physical limitations.

And if he loses? That means Peyton will be one for four in his trips to the big game, and detractors who see those failures as a blight on his accomplishments will forever have a "BUT" to slap at the end of his resume.

So Eli, the Legacy Defender, took a proactive swing at that one on Wednesday afternoon in a teleconference with reporters who cover the Giants. Yes, if his brother loses win next Sunday, it is likely that he will always be No. 2 in the Manning family when it comes to Lombardi Trophies.

"Peyton, his impact on the game of football will not be determined off this one game. He's changed the game," Eli said, mentioning his brother's excellence in the no-huddle offense and calling plays at the line of scrimmage as proof.

"(He has) five MVPs and (four) Super Bowl appearances and (he's) won a lot of football games and thrown a lot of touchdown and played at a high level for a long, long time," Manning said. "I hope he can win but his impact has already been made and his legacy ... I don't think it should be affected by this one game."

I'm with Eli on this one. Championships are part of what defines a quarterback's legacy, but they are just part of the equation. Is Joe Montana a great quarterback because of his four Super Bowl titles with the 49ers? Of course he is. Is he better than Dan Marino simply because the Hall of Famer never won a title with the Dolphins?

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If you automatically answered yes, here's the followup: Is Brad Johnson or Trent Dilfer better because they won one during their otherwise mediocre careers? Of course not.

Eli Manning has two, but he's not a better quarterback than his brother. Peyton is first in NFL history with 71,940 yards and 539 touchdowns. Yes, he has been so good for so long that you would think he would have won another championship along the way during his 19-year journey.

But this season serves as proof that winning Super Bowls is not just about the man throwing passes -- and, ironically, the proof is Peyton himself. He finished ranked 34th and dead-last in passer rating this season, dealt with injuries that clearly limited his ability to throw the ball downfield and lost his job to Brock Osweiler during the season.

If the Broncos pull this off during a season that is easily the worst in his career, you could make the argument that Peyton Manning is the best and the worst quarterback to win a Super Bowl. Even Dilfer had better numbers than Manning when the Ravens beat the Giants for title in 2000.

"Honestly, I think there's maybe too much placed on rings and Super Bowl championships because it's not one player." Eli Manning said. "The quarterback is not the sole reason that you win a championship, it's the team and everybody coming around."

If his brother wins one next Sunday in what is his final game, it will be an incredible story. He would become just the 12th quarterback to win a second Lombardi Trophy, and the list is elite company, to say the least.

But even if the Broncos do win, it's likely that their dominant defense, the one that shut down Brady and the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game, will deserve most of the credit even as Manning gets the attention. That's just how it works for quarterbacks.

Luckily for Peyton, he has someone in his camp who understands this better than anyone: His brother and, for the next few days, his legacy defender.